Should Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea earn an unprecedented sixth title in the men's race, he will win $30,000 (£18,000/€22,000).

The silver medallist in Denmark will take $15,000 (£9,000/€11,000), with $10,000 (£6,000/€7,000) going to the bronze medallist, $7,000 (£4,000/€5,0000) to fourth place, $5,000 (£3,000/€3,500) to fifth, and $3,000 (£1,800/€2,000)to sixth.

Prize money on offer is the same in the women's race, where Kenya's Lucy Wangui Kabuu whose 66min 09sec personal best in Ras Al Khaimah last year made her the fastest woman on a legal half-marathon course in 2013, is seeking to lead her team back to the top of the podium following Ethiopia's domination at the last running of the event in Kavarna, Bulgaria two years ago.

There will be a $50,000 (£30,000/€36,000) bonus on offer to any athlete who surpasses a world record in Copenhagen.

City Hall in Copenhagen, where individual winners in Saturday's IAAF Al-Bank World Half Marathon Championships will earn $30,000 ©Getty Images

Tadese holds the men's world record of 58:23, set in winning the 2010 Lisbon Half Marathon.

The current ratified world record for women set in single sex race is 66:25, set by Lorna Kiplagat of the Netherlands at Udine in 2007.

A total of $15,000 (£9,000/€11,000) is on offer to winners of the team event, with silver medallists getting $12,000 (£7,000/€9,000) and bronze medallists $9,000 (£5,500/€6,500). 

Fourth place will earn $7,500 (£4,500/€5,500), fifth place $6,000 (£4,000/€4.500) and sixth place $3,000 (£2,000/€2,500).

It is only the second time in the event's history that it is being held in the spring, and only the second time it is being accompanied by a mass participation event following the very first version at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1992.

The entry of around 25,000 runners is due to include the American ambassador in Denmark, Rufus Gifford, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, Danish chef Claus Meyer and Wilson Kipketer, Denmark's former world 800m record holder.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
October 2013: Copenhagen to turn 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships into mass running festival